Dhoni loses No 1 ODI ranking to Hussey

Last updated on: June 05, 2010 20:23 IST

Rested for the tri-nation cricket series in Zimbabwe, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday lost his numero uno status to Australia's Michael Hussey in the latest ICC rankings for ODI batsmen.

Dhoni along with several others were rest by the Indian cricket board for the ongoing triangular series in Zimbabwe, where Suresh Raina is leading the side.

A player loses half a per cent of his ratings points for every match he misses and, as such, Dhoni has already lost 12 ratings points.

The dashing wicketkeeper had regained the top spot from Hussey in February after the Australian scored 23 against New Zealand in the fourth ODI and didn't play in the fifth.

South African AB de Villiers is just two ratings points behind Dhoni at the third position.

India's Sachin Tendulkar shares the fourth position with South African opener Hashim Amla who produced a stellar performances with the bat in the just concluded five-ODI series against the West Indies.

Amla, who had started the series in 25th position, has climbed 21 places after scores of 102, 92, 34, 129 and 45 and has same 751 points.

The 27-year-old from Durban will now be chasing India opener Virender Sehwag's number-one position in the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen when the three-Test series starts in Port-of-Spain from June 10.

Amla is in second place and trails Sehwag by 21 ratings points. A good performance in Port of Spain could potentially put him ahead of the Indian to give South Africa top positions in the batting, bowling and all-rounders' table.

Other Indians in the ODI list include Virender Sehwag who lost two points to be at 13th position, Yuvraj Singh (15th), Virat Kohli (16th) and Suresh Raina (18th).

In ODI bowlers rankings, India's Harbhajan Singh has slipped three places to the ninth position. No other Indian featured in the Top-20 list, headed by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori with 761 points.

In the ICC ODI Championship, South Africa has joined India on 119 ratings points but was ranked third when the ratings were calculated beyond the decimal point.

However, if India loses today to Sri Lanka in Harare, they will drop behind South Africa in third position on 118 ratings points.

In contrast, India's victory over Sri Lanka will put them on 120 ratings points  one ahead of South Africa.